Buried Secrets
by Writer's Convexity
Summary: Nick and Judy have had a calm three years since the NightHowler incident. With thoughts of settling down, and one romanticizing the other. everything seems to be going well. However, a large shoot out reveals a massive, renewed crime network, with hidden plans laying in wait outside the city. Outside aid comes to them, only to make everything all the more complicated. NickxOC
1. Chapter 1

Nick nibbled on his pawpsicle, waiting patiently for his partner to finish up the paperwork. This was the third ticket they had given out, but this one was especially annoying, as he was starting to eat into their lunch break. Let his emerald green eyes wander behind the large aviators, the fox scanned the surrounding area. The basic traffic violation almost ended with them in what could've been a nasty accident. The construction workers had let a steamroller get loose, and now the massive ticket Judy was writing for their boss had left all the workers a little on edge, making a hilarious sight for the fox as he watched the mammals go about extra carefully with their business.

The thoughts that filled his head came up suddenly, but expectantly. Nick had been working at the ZPD for almost 3 years, and since then he had saved up a fair bit of money, especially after his promotion to Corporal. His financial security (now both solid and future resistant) and his fair bit of free time had lead him to think of the future in ways he never thought he would. Between his lack of any real friends and Judy being promoted to Staff Sergeant, his desire for intimate companionship came to a head, and while he had decided a long time ago to not go looking for such a relationship, that decision had been a _long_ time ago, and he could only solve a rubix cube alone in his apartment so many times before he went insane. It didn't help that it was early spring time now and he could probably smell every vixen in the city. And every time Judy dragged him out to Bunny-burrow he started having thoughts of bright red kits waiting for him to get home…

Right then, a loud slam stirred him from his inner turmoil. His little partner was fuming, supremely pissed. She tossed her ticket machine on the dashboard as she put the car in drive and started ranting.

"Freaking A... ! What a jerk. We almost get steamrolled by his carelessness then he has the audacity to try and pick a fight with me? He could've been nice and I would've let him off with a warning, but no, he had to be a jackass." The rabbit vented, causing Nick to snigger.

"Well, I'm glad you rolled out on him then. He's got you pretty steamed and I wouldn't mind seeing someone flattened for pissing off my CO so." Nick responded, his string of puns getting the ultimate scowl from the bunny as they turned into their favourite lunch place. The chef already had their usual waiting for them as they walked in, their normal fare of burgers and fried carrot sticks already waiting for them on the counter, albeit a little cooler than usually.

"Heya Honey! What's cooking?" The russet fox asked the short badger behind the counter, her 'chef's' hat tilted to the side. As she looked over her shoulder, she sent a scowl his way, obviously not too fond of the sarcastic fox.

"Why are you here? You better not be alo-OH HEY JUDY! I didn't see you! You really need to grow an inch or two, so at least your ears stick up past the counter." Judy grinned at the bi-polar chef. The light chatting that followed gave Nick some time to himself, at least in his head. His thoughts dawdled on the apartment listing he had been going through in his spare time, hoping to find a more suitable place to move to, instead of the dump of the basement he was currently living in. During the few hours he searched, he never once bothered looking at studio suites, or one bedroom places. He knew what his mind was getting at: he was 35 and counting, and it was almost beyond unusual for a fox to go this long without settling down. But just because the back of his head was ready for it, he couldn't exactly tell if **he** was. Not like there were any viable candidates for him to seduce anyway. _Carrots? Mmm… nah, too young, and way too hyperactive. What about…_ the lingering search for females in his head shocked him. Did he really only know one girl? _Wow, that's got to change, purely so I don't feel this inept while in my own head._ His introspection was cut short as he realized he had no more fries to munch on, and when he glanced over saw nothing left in Judy's tray too. The active little bunny noticed it as soon as he did, and quickly discarded their trash.

"Hahaha. Well bye Honey, and don't get too angry at Jacob. Mistakes happen." She said to the badger as they walked out the door, heading back on patrol.

"So what did Jacob do to piss her off? Breathe the wrong way?" Nick asked, remembering how he had gotten off on the wrong foot with the short-tempered chef.

"Do you remember the jockstrap incident a couple weeks back? Well it turns out he didn't bury it right so everything is sprouting up again." Judy answered with a giggle, causing Nick to just shake his head in bemused frustration. As they got loaded into the car, their cheery disposition was cut short as Clawhauser came on the radio, an urgency to his voice.

" _We have a 211 in progress at a 213 Needle drive. Any and all officers please respond."_ The cheetah called over the radio, an unusual worry in his voice. Checking the address real quick, Nick immediately found it, allowing Judy to respond.

"Clawhauser, this is Officer Hopps and Wilde. We're heading out." She said, ditching the usual formalities.

" _Understood Hopps. Please be advised, classified documents might be compromised, detain or subdue any suspects in the area."_ The aggressive order and revelation of possible classified files confused Nick and Judy for a second, but it was almost irrelevant as they sped off.

They arrived quickly, their siren making it only a 6 minute drive. When they got there, they realized they were in over their heads. More than half a dozen armed mammals stood in the front courtyard, taking up strategic positions along the cement wall in front of the building, providing them excellent cover as they open fired on the patrol car.

"CRAP!" Judy muttered a series of curses under her breath as she and Nick ducked underneath the dashboard, the shots poking holes in the windshield due to the pure count. Judy pulled her gun from it's holster, watching Nick do the same as he grabbed the radio.

"ALL UNITS. THAT 211 HAS TURNED INTO A VERY LARGE 131! REQUESTING BACKUP IMME-" One lucky shot tore through the transmitter, and caused Nick to yelp in surprise. A second later, the firing stopped, and their ears twitched, hearing the magazines fall to the ground.

"What luck. Go, I'll cover you." Nick told Judy as he spun up and over the dashboard, his excellent aim result in two mammals dropping like flies, and the rest of them slipping behind cover. At that moment the rabbit kicked open the car door and ran across the plaza to the bushes on the side, getting behind a brick column. Just as Nick was out, She turned the corner and open fired, he smaller .380 was nowhere near as powerful or as accurate as Nick's 9mm, but it did a decent job suppressing them. After unloading her entire magazine, she looked back at the car, unable to see her partner.

Then all hell broke loose as an RPG slammed into the vehicle, the explosion practically vaporizing the patrol car, launching nothing but a scorched metal frame a couple meters into the air. Her eyes went wide with fear as the it came crashing down, the russet fox still nowhere to be seen. _Nick? Nick no. You better not be in there. Where the hell are you? Nick you dumb fox where the fuck did you go?_ She screamed in her head as tears started to swell up in her eyes. But she couldn't dwell on it long, and attention turned towards her. The robbers started firing on her position, the ornamental brick column taking a beating from their rounds. _Oh sweet cheese and crackers this isn't good._ The rabbit curled up behind cover as much as she could, the rounds starting to break the brick apart. Desperation and fear began to swell up, and just as she was about to give up, a life flashed before her eyes. Not her own though, but Nick's, and she couldn't shake his face from her head.

That's when the shots stopped. Flicking her ears up as the tears fell down, she heard a car start up, and then the sounds of sirens roaring down the street. _They're making their getaway, and back up isn't coming fast enough!_ She thought to herself as she ducked out of cover and darted across the shot up courtyard. As she bounded up the stairs, a red panda jumped out from behind a short wall to her left, and raised a sub-machine gun before she could react. Two loud shots were fired, but neither one hit the rabbit, and both came from behind her. Surprised, the red panda fell back, her eyes rolling to the back of her head and her gun clattering on the travertine ground. Turning around to see her saviour, she was met with a very cocky looking fox, his 9 mm raised, a slight wisp of smoke ascending from the muzzle.

"Hey there, Carrots. I don't need you being turned into swiss cheese now." He said with a smirk, and a draining feeling of relief and happiness washed over the rabbit.

"Oh my god Nick, what-" Judy began to exclaim, but was interrupted by the sound of clashing glass and tearing drywall. Taking off, they ran after the sound, through the building, past a bloody murder scene, and to the back garage, where they were just in time to see a white, nondescript van driving off.

"Damnit! They got away!" Judy yelled, holstering her gun and watching the dust cloud dissipate. When she looked around, she noticed Nick wasn't next to her, and retraced her steps, back through the short corridor and into a small reception area. That's when she saw Nick checking the bodies, and realized the full horror of the scene in front of her. 10 mammals, strewn about around the room, each one full of bullet holes. A lioness with a lab coat sat slumped against a wall, a raccoon face down on the other side of the room, a rabbit not far from him. Two deer sat tied up in the middle, along with a goat and a sloth, all doctors it looked like, and all killed unceremoniously by a single execution shot to the head. A cheetah lay behind the counter, her back up against one of the cabinets in her desk. Two guards were laying by the exit door, a blood trail signalling that the shooters dragged them in from the doorway.

"Oh my god… who the hell were these guys? Why did they do this?" The bunny asked out loud, feeling a bit of her innocence dying as she looked over the corpses. As she moved to the door, two sounds were made. One, the sirens from their backup became almost unbearably loud as they turned into the front courtyard, and secondly, a small thump could be heard coming from the desk. The second one caused both of the officers to jump, turning to the desk with their weapons at the ready. The knocking kept on, and Judy realized it was coming from the cupboard blocked by the cheetah.

" _Hallo…! Anyone out there…? I appear to be stuck…"_ the light, high pitched voice of a female cat echoed from the little container. Quickly, Nick and Judy moved to assist, just as Wolford and Fangmeyer opened the front door.

"This is Officer Wilde and Officer Hopps of the ZPD. Give us just one… second…" Nick grunted as they, with Wolford's help, moved the cheetah out of the way. As they did, the cabinet door popped open, and a small ocelot in blue scrubs and a lab coat tumbled out. How a cat that size managed to squeeze herself into the tiny little space was beyond the four officers who stood there watching her.

"Ooh, that was cramped. Thanks for…" she started, before witnessing the scene around her, and immediately broke down crying.

* * *

"Goddamnit you two! City hall has been on my tail all day about this! You two charged in and because of your recklessness, caused them to run. Now we have no idea what they took or where they could possibly be. So not only is the entire facility compromised, and we've lost almost all the personnel stationed there, we have practically no leads, and no suspects. What the hell do you have to say for yourself?" Bogo growled, obviously infuriated. He had called them back to the Precinct after Snarlof and Huckabee arrived, and had been berating them for over an hour about it. Given the chance to say something, Judy spoke up, taking the chance to say something sarcastic away from her foxy partner.

"Sir, they started firing the moment we pulled into the lot. We didn't know how many of them there were, nor how armed they were. Seriously, who robs a science facility with an RPG launcher? I don't know what you would expect from that situation, but I doubt anyone could've done any better than we did." She responded, a slight aggressiveness to her tone, getting Nick to inch away from the line of fire between the two of them. Ever since her promotion to staff sergeant, Judy had been less and less willing to deal with being yelled at by the chief, and her backbone was starting to show. Not only that, the massive buffalo was beginning to listen to her more and more often, as was the case in this instance.

"You're telling me that they open fired first? And you didn't even say anything beforehand?" He asked, this time looking at Nick, who had a terrified look on his face.

"Yes sir. They fired without reason or warning." He answered quickly, trying to avoid his partner and his boss getting into a shouting match. The chief's reply was nothing but a say, as he rested his head in his hooves, trying to figure out how to play this.

"Fine. You two are free to go. As you two were the first on the scene, I want you to go back and take point on this case. This is first priority for you two. I don't even want you coming in for roll call unless I say otherwise, got it?" Bogo barked at them. Feeling as if the worst was behind them, Nick spoke up.

"Aww, but aren't you going to miss your morning jokes by yours truly?" He teased, before getting a loud response from his boss.

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH WILDE, BEFORE I REASSIGN YOU AND YOUR PARTNER TO PARKING DUTY FOR A MONTH!" With that Judy grabbed his muzzle shut, her eagerness to be on the case apparent. Bogo continued, regaining his composure.

"After you've detailed the scene, have a tech check what files might've been tampered with, and go over any physical files they had. I want to know what they stole, got it? I'll have the department psychologist keep you up-to-date on Dr. Familia's condition, so when she's ready for questioning, you'll get first dibs. Also, until we get you a new patrol car, you'll be taking one of the unmarked cars in the garage. Now get moving." He ordered, and after a quick thank you, Judy pulled Nick out of the room, scolding him once they were outside. _They're gonna be the death of me, aren't they?_ Bogo thought to himself as he started dialing the Mayor's office.

* * *

The white fox sat in her personal train car, searching a massive database for leads and coincidences. Just then, a Skype call came through, the annoying ringtone breaking her concentration. Checking the contact info, she sighed in annoyance, before answering.

"Ah, hallo there, Sif. Whatchya upto?" She said, her cheery facade not convincing or changing his stoic attitude. The grey wolf gave a small huff, before getting to why he called.

" _Director Flynn and I have become aware of your move to Zootopia, and he asked me to give you a head's up. Several incidents have lead us to repurpose our liaison for another mission. Whatever you plan on doing in the city, you'll be mostly on your own. If you find anything concrete, the Director and I will back you up if you need support from the ZPD. If you come up short, then neither of us will be pleased. Keep comm. Silent unless you have something to report."_ The senior agent gave her her orders before hanging up the call, and leaving her with her work again.

"(Sigh), always a cheery one, Sif. Good talk." She said to herself as she went back at it.

* * *

 **Hey guys, another story here. Hmm, seems to be a little short for an intro... Eh, oh well. This story was developed with help from Mr. Dox The Fox, and personally requested by him. It's become something of a side pet-project for me, and I really can't wait to see where it goes from here.**

 **Also, a shout out to Morguerat's story "The Coming Storm", as it is incredibly well done and definitely deserves some more attention. You also might being seeing a familiar face there, so go check it out if you haven't already.**


	2. Chapter 2

Nick stared into the mirror as he fiddled with his tie, glad he got to do this alone every day, but slightly irritated he did it every day. He wasn't sure how he managed to finish the knot morning after morning, but he always managed to get it right at the last minute. Just like today. Although, his glance at the little alarm clock next to him alerted him to the fact that he was, in fact, early. By only two minutes, but still. Smiling to himself, he started to talk out loud, his voice filling the empty studio apartment.

"Well babe, it looks like I am improving. Maybe next time I'll get it in less than 27 minutes. Wouldn't that be nice?" He spoke, the lack of a response grinding on his nerves. _Wow, getting a little crazy, aren't we? Maybe we should just go…_ the voice in the back of his head pushed, and he simply sighed in response.

"Yeah yeah yeah… bye honey, I'll see you… whenever, I guess." He called into the empty room as he walked out, his voice dropping the veneer of sarcastic optimism towards the end. His mood unusually soured, he left his apartment in silence, the door not even announcing his exit. Quickly making his way across town, Nick let the waking city brighten his mood, if ever so slightly, as he made his way to Precinct 1. Once he got there, he noticed just how early he was, having beaten his rabbit friend to the overly round cheetah sitting behind the front desk. Needing something to kill the time, he walked up to the cheery feline.

"Hey there Spots, what's up? No doughnuts today?" He asked, noticing the empty desk. Surprised at his sudden appearance, Clawhauser jumped, then glanced over to the vulpine. As his mind registered the question, he looked around, and then answered.

"Oh, I have them, just hidden under the desk. Chief Bogo said someone from the ZSIS would be coming in today, and I didn't want them getting the wrong idea. Those guys are tough cookies, and Bogo would be irritated if one of them started reporting carelessness due to doughnuts." He explained, grabbing the box to show Nick. Just as he did, they heard the doors open again, a grey bunny walking in. The look of surprise on her face was humorous to the red fox, as he simply grinned his sly little grin and chuckled. She didn't have time to ask a question though, as Bogo's voice came over the comm, an oddly polite tone to Clawhauser.

" _Clawhauser, could you send both Hopps and Wilde to my office once they get in? Thank you."_ Benjamin responded quickly, and the mention of their names caught their attention.

"Sir, they just walked in. Would you like me to send them up now?" After just a second, the response came from upstairs, the chief not bothering with the intercom.

"Hopps! Wilde! Get your tails up her right now!" He hollered down at them. Expecting it, the two little mammals simply rolled their eyes and waved to Clawhauser as they left to the stairs. Jogging over, Judy finally got to ask her russet partner her question.

"When did you get here? Normally the betting pool is whether or not you get here on time for roll call, I don't think anyone has ever guessed you would get here _early_." She teased him, getting nothing but a smirk from the larger predator.

"Well, this time my tie permitted me to surprise you, so I did. Betting pool you say? I should get in on that…" He thought outloud, getting an amused head shake from the rabbit. As they walked up to the door to Bogo's office, they inhaled, looked at each other, and braced themselves for impact, opening the door with all the caution of a kit bringing home a bad report card.

"Hopps, Wilde, get in here." His grunted command quickly got them shuffling into the room. His attention was squarely on a large stack of papers as they got into the seats in front of him, however, he moved them aside to focus on the pair of smaller mammals.

"Now because of your little shoot out, I can't take the wife on vacation because I have to deal with clean up. _And_ the ZSIS have an agent incoming from the outskirts. Seems like he was attracted by this little incident and has decided to investigate himself. So you can guess as to how much more pissed I am right now." The buffalo's run down of the situation got the two officers even more worried, although now more about the possibility of parking duty over anything else. However, their fears were unfounded.

"Wait, why would the Zoolandia Special Intelligence Sector want to investigate a random armed burglary in the middle of Zootopia? That seems oddly specific," Judy queried, her question getting deeper than Bogo had originally thought necessary. Or still thought necessary.

"It doesn't matter. Look; the ZSIS is extremely aggressive in getting what they want. I've dealt with senior officers in the division before, and they don't tolerate people getting in their way. Which means that on top of leading this investigation, I'm having you two assist the agent in any way you can. If his investigation is at all tied to yours, I want you on his six. Got it?" Bogo's orders left them slightly confused, but getting the gist, they nodded their heads and left as a wave of his hoof dismissed them.

* * *

"So according to public records, the facility was a pharmaceutical researcher and small time manufacturer. Why someone would want to hit it I simply can't understand." Judy said out loud, hoping for a response from Nick. The russet fox simply kept reading the reports coming in from the on-site clean up crew hoping something would come up that they could follow as a lead. Feeling ignored, Judy slammed on the brakes, jerking the car to a stop at the stop sign a little early.

"You really should keep me in the loop on what you're reading. I am a better detective than you, I'll catch whatever you don't." She posited, chuckling to herself as he tried to reorganize himself and his papers.

"You really think so? If your driving is anything to base it off of, then I would highly doubt it. Easy way to find out though; when we get there, whoever finds the most clues before Agent Pampered Claws gets there gets to call themselves the better detective of the week." He proffered, the idea instantly winning her approval.

"Challenge accepted. And when I win you're also paying for lunch." She claimed, getting a huff from her partner as they rolled back into the same lot they had been in yesterday. The scorch marks on the ground were still there, and the damage from the firefight more that evident. Almost dusted and and highlighted to the eyes of the two officers as they scanned their surroundings.

"3, 2, 2 and a half, 1… Go!" Nick counted them down, both of them jumping out of the car and darting from point to point, inspecting and gathering and searching for anything that might be of value. Despite Judy's better training and greater attention to detail, her advantages we miniscule compared to Nick's heighten senses of smell and sight, which had led her to conclude a slight advantage on his part in this contest. However, they often played this game, and doing so had gotten them the reluctant appraisal as the city's two best officers, now decorated. This would be simply another medal on their already crowded chests.

Not like either of them did it for the recognition. The partners enjoyed this game they played, the back and forth and the constant attempts at one-upping each other. The friendly contests were effective in promoting productivity. Like with this scene, the evidence cache seemed to grow much faster once they jumped on the chance for proving themselves over the other, their two piles of baggies and pictures their proof of claimant. After just over an hour though, someone stopped their game.

"Hopps! Wilde! There's an Agent over 'ere for you!" Snarlof called over to the hurried detectives, who stopped in their tracks. Poking their heads out of the building, they saw the hooded figure standing behind the yellow tape, his back to the officers. The mammal's trench coat extended down to his ankles, but revealed the snowy white fur of his feet. Oddly, the agent stood not like most others, but balanced himself on his toes. Even so, it was obvious that he was decently shorter than Nick, at most coming up to the detective's chin. Glancing at each other, they steeled their nerves and exited the building, setting aside their game for the moment. As they crossed the courtyard, Nick caught a whiff of the newcomer; the hazelnuty and coffeeish scent covered in the smell of a long train ride and much to quick shower put Nick at ease. _And the chief had us worried about some ama-_ Nick discount of the agent went quiet as soon as **she** turned around and pulled down her hood, almost as if hearing the degradation. When Nick got a good look of her, he felt his breath jump out of his mouth, and his eyes go wide at the sight. The vixen's fur was mostly the same snow white as that of her feet, but her ears were tipped black, and thin black markings decorated her cheeks and made their way down her exposed neck. Her eyes were a dazzling hazel, amberish colour, and held a sincerity her face so desperately tried to hide behind a view of authority. Underneath her trench coat she wore a grey vest, one that ended an inch or two above the waistline for her pants, exposing a well toned midriff, as she didn't wear a shirt underneath that. Her pants were simple close fitting black trousers, ending just below her trench coat.

It was only on a second look did he realize three incredibly terrifying things all at the same time; over the vest she had a pistol holster, and was currently armed. Secondly, that her piercing amber eyes were boring right into him. And thirdly, both she and his partner undoubtedly noticed his reaction to her simply turning around.

 _Shit._

* * *

 **Hey guy(s), I know it's been a while since I uploaded a (the) chapter to this story, but just FYI, it isn't dead, and I'm going to finish it. However, money making and personal problems came up, and I had to put all writing on the back burner. However, as now I'm depressed and need to get myself out of thei unending pit of despair, I figured writing was as good a way as any to do so. So I'm back, and hopefully I'll wrap up _It's Never Simple, Isn't It?_ and be able to focus on getting this one done much quicker. I've had ideas floating around for this, and I've decided this will be a much shorter story than _Never Simple_ , but not any less eventful. Hopefully I haven't lost any one. Please R&R. Sorry for the short chapter, but it's just a teaser at what I have in store.**


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